Hummingbird Bioscience gets $25m extended Series B
Hummingbird Bioscience, a Singapore and US-based drug developer with two cancer treatments on course to enter clinical trials, has received $25 million in an extended Series B round of funding led by the holding company of Korea’s SK Group.
The initial tranche of Hummingbird’s Series B closed at $19 million last December, led by Mirae Asset Venture Investment and GN Tech Venture Capital. Additional commitments came from existing backers Heritas Capital and Seeds Capital, as well as new investors Delian Capital, Mirae Asset Capital, DA Value Investment, HB Investment, Wooshin Venture Investment, and Kiwoom Investment-Shinhan Capital. Of the new contingent, all apart from Delian are Korea-based.
The round was extended due to significant oversubscription, according to a statement. Heritas and Seeds Capital – an investment arm of government agency Enterprise Singapore – both re-upped in the extension. The new capital will be used to accelerate the movement of new drug candidates into clinical trials and strengthen R&D capabilities. Hummingbird has now raised $65 million to date.
Established in 2015, the company takes a targeted approach to drug development, applying computationally guided platforms to discover and engineer breakthrough biotherapeutics. It has two treatments expected to make submissions to initiate clinical trials this year: one neutralizes an antibody that promotes cell division and tumor growth, while the other suppresses T-cell activity, which plays a critical role in the formation of tumors and resistance to immunotherapy in cancer.
Hummingbird is working with Cancer Research UK on the first of these treatments and it has a partnership with Amgen covering multiple undisclosed targets.
"Heritas Capital is pleased to continue our backing of the Hummingbird team since leading its Series A extended round," said Chik Wai Chiew, the firm’s CEO, said in a statement. "Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a slowdown in investing, we are mindful that backing leading innovative biotech companies, especially players such as Hummingbird, to develop cures for addressing patients' needs remains our priority."
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